VEDIC RELIGION

he Vedic Religion
Sources of Vedic Religion: The most important sources for the study of Vedic Religion
are the Vedas and Upanishads.

Religious practices in early vedic period (oldest Veda)

Nature worship in Vedas The Vedic people used to worship various forms of natural
phenomenon. the ancient Vedic worshippers offered sacrifices to those gods in the
hope that they in return would grant abundant numbers of cattle, good fortune, good
health, long life, and male progeny, among other material benefits. Every sacrifice was
performed on behalf of an individual, the patron or yajamana (“sacrificer”), who bore the
expenses

Simple religion: . The rites of Vedic sacrifice were relatively simple in the early
period, when the Rigveda was composed. They required neither temples nor image
The agnyadheya (“installation of the fire”) was a necessary preliminary to all the
large public rituals and was preceded by the patron’s fast

Vedic Gods: The Vedic people worshipped many gods. They were Prithvi, Soma, Agni,
Indra, Vayu, Maruts, Paryanya, Varuna, Dyaus Pita, Surya, Ashvin, Mitra, Pashan,
Vishnu and Savitri.

sacrifices: domestic (grihya) and public (srauta, or vaitanika). The domestic rites
were observed by the householder himself or with the help of a single priest and were
performed over the domestic hearth fire. Some occurred daily or monthly, and others
accompanied a particular event, such as the samskaras.The grand rites performed in
public, by contrast, lasted several days or months and could usually be undertaken
only by wealthy men or kings. They required the services of many priests and were
usually performed at three fire-altars. Most characteristic of the public ceremonies
was the soma sacrifice, which ensured the prosperity and well-being of both human
beings and gods. Edibles such as meat, butter, milk, and barley cake could also be
offered to a sacred fire.

Transformation in Vedic Religion: As time passed, the Rig Vedic gods underwent
transformations and though they were present in Atharva-Veda their nature and
characters were changed significantly. There also emerged some new Gods like
Prajapati Brahma and Shiva who began to be worshipped with equal enthusiasm. In the
Rig-Vedic era, Indra was the principal God but in later days he had yielded the place to
Prajapati who was considered as the creator as the preserver or savior of the universe.

Later Vedic Period: It should also be mentioned that during the later Vedic age
sacrifice and rituals found predominance in religious ideas and practices. The Vedic
Aryans also believed that through oblations and sacrifices the gods could be pleased
and influenced to work as the devotee wished him to do. This very belief continued even
in the later Vedic period for which sacrifices and oblations were considered as the most
powerful and main cause of creation. Practically oblations, sacrifices and rituals began
to dominate the later Vedic religion Over the centuries, the Vedic rites became
increasingly complex and governed by innumerable rules, which were
embodied, together with the hymns and prayer formulas used, in the Vedas.
During the late Vedic period the complexities of ritual were emphasized to
such an extent that only highly trained Brahmans could carry them out
correctly, and it was maintained that improperly or incorrectly performed rites
could, unless rectified, bring about disaster or death.
In reaction against this excessive emphasis on ritual (as well as the growing
power of the Brahmans), Vedic thought in its late period became more
speculative and philosophical in approach. Much speculation was directed
toward the search for harmony and for correspondences between macrocosm
and microcosm, with the ultimate goal being a reduction of reality to an all-
embracing unity by way of successive equations.

Features: Thus in the entire Vedic period religion and the religious practices gained
some special characteristics.

 The gods of the Rig Vedic period were essentially the natural phenomena, but the
Aryans tried to personify them and thus the anthropomorphism began.
 Secondly, the Rig Vedic gods were all equal in status because that was an age of
equality in the Aryan society.
 There was a sense of equality and unity in early Aryan life arid society and that
sense was reflected in their ideas of gods.
 Later on the society underwent changes and the Gods were also transformed.

Conclusion: As Vedic civilisation advanced men became more and more curious about
the nature, the world, the universe, and of the very life of man himself. His knowledge
was limited and he was confused at every stage. This had given rise to several
philosophical theories and concepts with regard to religion. The Upanishads began the
study of Brahma and the other philosophical works began to follow it. A systematic
However, Hinduism also underwent some important changes during these times. The sacrifice was
replaced by worship (pooja) and mediation of the Brahmins was somewhat replaced by Devotion and
Bhakti. The Shakti cult emerged in the Gupta era, which was based upon the fact that the male can
be activated only through union with females. Therefore, this was the beginning of worship of wives
/ consorts of Indian Gods such as Lakshmi, Parvati, Durga, Kali and other goddesses. The worship of
Mother Goddess, which was prevalent in the Harappan India, finally got incorporated in the
Hinduism by Guptas times.
By the end of 5th century, Tantrism had also become prominent.
Rise of Occult Practices
The emergence of Tantrism and worship of female deities also led to occult practices, which kept
sexual union in the center. The sexual rites started becoming prominent and now they started taking
shape of religious sexuality, which reached its zenith in India by the end of the 6 th and 7thcentury, as
evident from numerous temple arts centered on the religious sexuality in that era.
Rise of six schools
The six schools of Hindu Philosophy viz. Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankya, Yoga, Mimansa and
Vedantastarted taking definitive shape because of the philosophical debates between the Hindu and
Buddhists on the question of presence of God, attaining salvation, karma, fate, Birth and Death and
rebirth.

During the Gupta era, Hinduism developed some distinct characteristics which are
incorporated into the religion. One of these is the worship of images which was favored of
the use of sacrifices. The sacrifices of the older days became symbolic sacrifices to the
images in the poojas, a prayer ritual used to honor one or more deities. This led to the lack
of use of the priests who were dominant in sacrifices because they were no longer needed.
The difficulty of enforcing the sacred laws due to the ever changing public allowed a more
broad frame of difference to be involved at the four ends of man-religion and social law
(dharma), economic welfare (artha), pleasure (kama) and salvation of the soul (moksha).
Then onward it was maintained that a correct balance of the first three ends could lead to
the fourth.
Those who practiced Hinduism to a serious extent eventually broke into two sects came into
existence--Vaishnavism and Shaivism. Vaishnavism was mostly prevalent in northern India
while the Shaivism in southern India. At this time the tantric (liberation of
consciousness) beliefs had left their mark on Hindu religion. Shakti clans came into
existence with the subtle ideal that being that males can only be activated by being united
with a female. It was then that Hindu gods began to have wives and both came to be
worshiped by Hindus.

 he Vedic religion was not about rituals. The main essence of the religion was to
realize the mystic of the oneness of the universe. As said above it inspires to
seek the truth as everything you are looking for is within you. Contrary to this,
Hinduism is hardliner in terms of following rituals. Vedic religion did not say
 anything about vegetarianism but as per Hinduism ‘Brahmins should be
vegetarians’.
 The Vedic religion sets its followers free. But the current Hinduism is
oppressive towards its followers and binds you in the obligations of rituals and
dos and donts. The society where books were written on sexual pleasure 2000
years ago has turned prude today somewhe